Culture, Media and Film MPhil and PhD

At the start of your MPhil or PhD

At the start of your MPhil or PhD, you will complete a Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert) in Research Methods, a mandatory taught part of MPhil and PhD programmes at Worcester. Full-time students complete the PG Cert in 9 months and part-time students in 12-15 months depending on your month of registration (September or January).

The PG Cert is designed to set you up for your research degree, and focuses on establishing your development needs, developing your research proposal, and preparing you for the planning and delivery of your programme of research. You will be taught through a combination of in-person seminars and online delivery. You can also engage with our online researcher development programme workshops.

You will engage with three modules as part of your PGCert:

• RSDP4001: Developing as a Researcher
• RSDP4004: Planning Your Research Project
• RSDP4005: Approaches to Research

Throughout these early stages of your research degree, you will work with your supervisory team to regularly discuss your progress. At the end of each year, you will reflect on and formally review your progress with your supervisory team and Doctoral Programme Leader. We call this annual meeting an Annual Progress Review (APR).

If you are enrolled on an MPhil programme, the remainder of your programme of study will follow a similar pattern as our PhD programme structure outlined below but in a shorter timeframe. Data collection will typically begin in your first year (full-time) and years 2-3 (part-time). Writing of thesis chapters, dissemination and your viva will typically occur in year 2 (full-time) and years 3-4 (part-time).

During your MPhil or PhD

In your second year (full-time) or years 3-4 (part-time), you will be collecting data and working on your research project with the support of your supervisory team through regular meetings.

You may at this point have research papers ready to publish and attend conferences to present your research to other experts in your field. You will be able to apply to our Research Student Conference Support Scheme for some funding for this purpose.

You can also present your work as part of the annual Postgraduate Research Student Conference and our Images of Research event; seminars based within your academic school and our Postgraduate Network Present and Share series in addition to a range of online workshops as part of our researcher development programme.

At the end of the year of your registration, you will go through an Annual Progress Review.

Final stage of your MPhil or PhD

Throughout the final stages of your degree, you will be working with your supervisory team to discuss your progress through supervisory meetings. In year 3 of your PhD (full-time) or year 5 (part-time), you will be writing up your thesis and preparing for your viva voce (viva) examination.

Your viva will take place after you have submitted your final thesis. After the viva, the examiners may ask that some amendments be made to your thesis before the final award is confirmed, and you will have additional time to do this.

It is possible to complete a full-time PhD in three years, but many students do take four years to complete. Simialrly, it is possible to complete a part-time degree in 4 years, but it is likely that it will take you five years to complete.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and how these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest MPhil programme specification or PhD programme specification document.